Illini Bobcat takes Game 1 of City Series

Wednesday

Jul 3, 2013 at 1:09 AMJul 3, 2013 at 1:13 AM

City Series Game 1

Erich Murphy

It may have been fitting that it felt more like October than July Tuesday night at the Rec-Plex as the City Series finally got underway. Illini Bobcat relied on solid pitching, timely hitting and good defense to garner a 9-2 decision and take a 1-0 lead in the series against Country Financial. Andrew Hamilton got the ball for Illini Bobcat, the top seed of the tourney and regular-season league champ. He held Country in check for his three innings of work, which included a string of six consecutive strikeouts. “He was on fire. He did everything he needed to do,” Illini head coach Kevin Lipke said of Hamilton. Hamilton finished with seven punchouts while allowing one hit and one walk in three innings. Leighton Gerdes grounded out to second to start the game, and then Hamilton set down the next six Country batters on strikes before Steven Lewis broke up the perfect game with a base hit. Hamilton then walked Darian Kozak before getting Gerdes to ground out again and striking out Colton Clesson to end the inning. In the meantime, Hamilton was given a lead to work with, making life on the bump a lot easier for the Illini southpaw. Illini Bobcat scored a run with two outs in the first inning and did not look back. After Luke Fox and Isaac Nollen each fouled out to Country catcher Payton Cramer in the initial stanza, Kobe Fox and Hamilton drew walks. Robert Diemer reached on an error that allowed Fox to score the game’s first marker. Jaden Hershe led off the second inning by coaxing a free pass for Illini. He scored on a two-out base hit from Adam Verdun for a 2-0 advantage. Clesson got the start for Country. He ran into trouble, as his team got farther behind. Walks were the main culprit. Five of the six walks Clesson yielded in his three innings on the bump eventually scored. Bad luck struck Clesson and Country in the third inning. Clesson struck out Jose Serna but the Illini batter reached when the ball got away from Cramer. Serna eventually came around to score the first of five runs in the inning as Illini Bobcat’s lead grew to 7-0. Hamilton delivered a single with the bases loaded to drive in two runs. Diemer chased home another run with a base hit and Murphy Basham singled with two outs that tallied another marker. “Our team has a bunch of very experienced players and a bunch of very new players, so the experienced players have to work with the new players,” Lipke said. “You need those experienced players to go out and step it up. It makes those newer players player.” Illini Bobcat is the oldest team in this year’s Little League with five 12-year-olds and only three 10-year-olds on the roster. Country has two that age and six 11-year-olds. Nollen took over for Hamilton at the start of the fourth inning. He gave up leadoff walks in the fourth and fifth innings and both times the runners scored. Nollen closed out the game with a strikeout, his fifth of the night. Clayton Haase walked in the fourth and scored on a wild pitch with two outs. Lewis walked in the fifth and scored on a base hit from Gerdes. Haase came on for Country in the fourth and walked the first two batters he faced. Verdun eventually scored when Luke Fox reached on an error and Ricky Matuszewski scored when Kobe Fox singled, making it 9-1 at the time. Haase retired the last four batters he faced. He gave up two runs and one hit while striking out four and walking two. Clesson struck out seven and yielded four base hits. “I think our guys got their heads in the game toward the end,” Country Financial head coach Steve Haase said. “Had they done that earlier we probably would have played better, but I think they’ll come back ready to play.” Game 2 is set for 5:30 this afternoon. Hamilton and Kobe Fox each had a base hit and two runs batted in to lead the Illini offense. Verdun, Diemer and Basham each had a single and RBI. Gerdes and Lewis had the two hits for Country.